Toy excavator



Feb. 17, ,1931. MARX 1,792,851

TOY EXCAVATOR Filed Dec. 18; 1926 INVENTOR Louis'M x ATTORNEYS .Patented Feb. 17,1931 I o I b I UNITED S A ES PATENT OFFICE" LOUIS Manx, or BROOKLYN, NEW YORK TOY .nxcavntron V Application filed December118, 1926;. Serial No. 155,589. L

This invention relates to a toy excavator or Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are detailed illustrations steam shovel crane and its principal object of the manner of mounting and operation of is to provide a novel and useful toy which the trapdoor; shall be readily operable by a child, and which Referring to the drawings, 10 designates shall contain few elements which are likely the truck or running gear which comprises a 55 platform. 11 mounted upon the wheels 12.

to get out of order.

Toy steam shovels generally comprise a The superstructure shown in the drawings is truck, a swivel cabin mounted on said truck, mounted upon the platform 11 and is swiva mast supported on said cabin, and a shovel 'eled thereto in a manner well known in the v fulcrulned on themast. The shovel hasa art, the superstructure comprising a cabin or 60 scoop at one end which is provided with a other enclosure'13, a mast Hand a shovel 15 trap door. I Jfulcrumed on the mast 1 1 at the point-16.

The present invention relates more par- A rope 17 is attached to the upper end of the ticularly to the relation of the trap door to shovel 15 at one end thereof, and is attached 15 the scoop, and to the manner of operating to the'rotatable shaft 18'which is mounted 65 the trap door. 1 transversely in' the housing 13 and is pro- In the toy steam shovels known hitherto, vided at one end thereof with a manually opvarious means were provided for the operaerable crank 19. Rotation of the shaft 18 in tion of the trap door, all of which depended one direction raises'the shovel 15 to the dot- 20 upon the use of movable latching means of ted line position shown in Fig. 1 and rotating 7 onetype or another, and upon theme of the shaft 18 in the opposite direction lowers strings and wires which are attached either the shovel to the full line position shown in to the latching means or to the trap door for Fig. 1. p The transverse bar 32 serves to limit operating the same. Suchstructures introthe operable movement of the shovel. In orduce movable parts and parts which may der tohold the shovel in any desired position, 7

7 break, tear or otherwise become inoperative, the shaft 18 carries a ratchet 20 which coop- 'with the result that such toys become inopcrates with a rod 21 to hold the shovel in erative and useless due merely to the failure any desired position. The rod 21 is movable of the latch or the latch operating means. It vertically at one end thereof in the slot 22,

is the object of the present invention to thereby providing means for releasing the so minimize the number of movable parts in a ratchet from engagement with the rod 21 and toy steam shovel, and more particularly to making it possible to rotate the shaft 18 in eliminate the latch and latch operating means the opposite direction so as to permit free which are'associated with the trap door in lowering of the shaft.

the toy steam shovels known hitherto. The exact construction of the parts thus In'the present invention the above objects far described is immaterial to the subject are accomplished by pivotally mounting the matter of the present invention, and such contrap door on the scoop in such a manner that struction may be varied in any manner dethe trap door automatically closes when the sired. r shovel is lowered to its loading position, and The shovel '15 comprisesthe arm 23 and the trap door automatically opens when the the scoop 2a which 1s provided with a trap shovel is raised to its discharge position. door 25 designed to permit the discharge of These ends are accomplished without the use the scoop. In the toy steam Shov k of any parts extraneous t0 the scoop and trap hitherto, the operation 0f the trap @001? was door, and the device operates automatically. controlled by latches WlllCh were movably The invention further consists in the sevmounted on the shovel arm23, whichin turn eral novel'features that are set forth herehad to be operated by strings. The mere inafter in the appended claims. breaking of such strlngs frequently de- In the drawings, Fig. 1 shows a toy steam stroyed the usefulnessof the toy for the child. shovel embodying the present invention. In the present inVBlltlOIl, therefore, the trap 10 door is so mounted on the scoop that the use of any latches and strings is entirely eliminated, the entire operation of the trap door being effected by the manner of mounting of the trap door on the scoop, the operation being thereby made automatic, so that when the shovel is raisedfrom the full line position shown in Fig. l tothe dotted line position shown in Fig. 1, the trap door remains closed during its course of travel, but opens automatically as soon as it reaches the dotted line position, thus permitting the proper discharge of the load in the scoop at the proper point and at the propertime, and ob iating any premature discharge of the load. Con versely, when the shovel is lowered from its dotted line position to the-full line position shown in Fig. 1, the trap door is closed as soon as the shovel reaches its loading or fullline position. v

T he trap door, whichis preferably stamped out of sheetanetal, comprises the longitudinal flanges 26 which embrace the lower longitudinal edges of the side facesof the scoop when the trap dooris inits closed position. The trap doords-also provided with the lugs 2? whichserveto limit the opening movement of the trapdoor 25, as will be seen in the dottediline position in Figs. 1 and 3.

Each of the flanges 26 is provided with an arcuate slot 28 which serves to receive the pivot pin29 which passes through the sides of the scoop 24. Small metallic washers 3O are preferahly mounted on each end of the pin 29 and serveto limit the lateral movement of the trap door, and the washers 30 are held inplace by providing flattened portions 31 on the ends of the pin 29.

It-will be seenthat the arcuate slot 28 has a horizontal portion and a vertical portion at the forward end thereof. It is the cooperation of-the slot .29 with the stop lugs 27 which bringabout the automatic operation of the trap door, as described above. Starting with the position as shown in fulllinesin Fig. 1, it will be seen that the trap door is closed against the scoop and so positioned that the pin 29 is disposed in-the rearmost end of the arcuate slot 28, and the flanged lugs 27 abut against the rear face of the scoop. As the shovel is-raised, this relationship between the trap door and the scoop 24 remains undisturbed until after theshovel has passed the horizontal position shown in Fig. 2. lnzthis position the trap door is prevented from opening by the engagement of the stops 27 against the rear face of the scoop. hen, however, the shovel is raised to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 1 or to the full line position shown in Fig. 3, gravity causes the trapdoor to slide to the full line position shown in Fig. 3. This, it will .be seen, releases the engagement between the lugs 27 and the rear face of the scoop, and the trap dooris nowfree to moveon the-pin 29 to its open position. The opening movement of the door is limited by the subsequent engagement of the upper edges of the lugs 27 with the rear face of the scoop 24. At the same time the slot 28 travels over the pin 29 until the pin 29 abuts up against the forward end of the slot.

WVhen the shovel is lowered from the dotted line position to the full line position shown in Fig. 1, the operation described above is reversed. When the shovel reaches the full line position shown in Figs. 1 and 4, gravity forces'the trap door to close the scoop first into the positionshown in Fig. 4, this being immediately followed by the downward sliding of the trap door 25 to the full line position shown in Fig. l.

Considerable variation of the details of construction is possible without departing from the spirit of thisinvention. Itherefore desire not to limit myself to the form of construction shown and described hereinabove.

I claim:

1. In a toy excavator, a scoop section movable from a loading position to adischargc position, a trap door forthe discharge opening of said scoop, the trap door comprising a body portion for closingthe. discharge openingof the scoop, a pair of lateral flanges havingarcuateslots for pivotally mounting the door on the scoop and an upwardly extending fiangeon the rear ofsaid door for engaging the rear face of the scoop.

2. In a. toy excavator, ascoopsection-mow able from a loading position to a discharge position, a trap door for thedischargeopening of said scoop; co-operating mechanism mounted on said scoop and on said trapdoor for movably supporting the trap door on the scoop, said mechanism being operative for elfectinga trap door movementlongitudinallyand pivotallywith relation-.to the scoop to open and close the same.

3. In atoy excavator, a scoop sectionniovable from aloading position toa discharge position,a trapdoor for the discharge opening ofsaid scoop, thetrap doorhavingslotted lateraLflanges cooperating with the pivot pin mounted on the scoop to provide pivotal movementof the door, and havinganother flange which serves to hold thedoor in the closed position and to limit the opening movementof the door.

4. In a toy excavator, a scoop section movable from a loading position to a dischargeposition, a trapdoor for the discharge opening of saidscoop, the trap door having flanges provided with arcuateslots coOperating with the pivot pin mounted on the scoop to providepivotalmovementof the door, and having another flange which serves to hold the .door in theclosed position and to limit the opening movement of the .door.

5. ina toy excavator, a scoop section movable from a loading position to a discharge position, a trap doorfor the discharge opening of said scoop, mechanism for movably mounting said trap door on said scoop, sa d mechanism comprising pivot means onsaid tomatically opens when the scoop is in the discharge position. I

6. In a toy excavator, a scoop section movable from a loading position to a discharge position, a trap door for the discharge opening of said scoop, mechanism for movably mounting said trap door on said scoop, said mechanism comprising pivot means on said scoop and a part on said trap door having an elongated slot means receiving said pivot means, said mechanism being operative so that the trap door automatically closes when the scoop is in the loading position and automatically opens when the scoop is in the discharge position, and means cooperating with said mechanism for locking the trap door in closed position when the scoop is in loading position and for permitting the trap door to open when the scoop is-in the discharge position. 7

7 In atoy excavator, a scoop movable from a loading position to a discharge position, a trap door for the dischargeopening of said scoop, mechanism for movably mounting said trap door on said scoop, and additional means cooperating with said mounting mechanism and operative for effecting the opening of the trap door solely under the influence of gravity when the scoop is in'the discharge position.

8. In a toy excavator, a scoop movable from a loading position to a discharge position, a trap door for the-discharge opening of said scoop, mechanism for movably mounting said trap door on said scoop, andadditional means cooperating with said mounting mechanism and operative solely under the influence of gravity both for closing the trap door when the scoop'is moved to the loading position and for opening the trap door when the scoop is moved to the discharge position.

9. In a toy excavator, a scoop movable from a loading position to a discharge position, a trap door for the discharge opening of said scoop, mechanism for movably mounting said trap door on said scoop, and additional means cooperating with said mounting mechanism and operative solely under the influence of gravity for automatically closing and locking the trap door when the scoop is moved to the loading position and for antomatically releasing the trap door for move ment to an open position when the scoop is moved to the discharge position.

day of December, A. D.

10. In a toy excavator, a scoop movable from a loading position to a discharge-position, a trap door for the discharge opening of said scoop, means for movably mounting said trap door on said scoop, and means cooperating with said mounting means and operative solely under the influence of gravity for automatically closing and locking the trap door when the scoop is moved to the loading position and for automatically releasing the trap door and limiting its movement to an open position when the scoop is moved to the discharge position.

Signed at New York city in the county of New York and State of New York this 15th LOUIS MARX. 

